Do you feel like communication with your partner, your colleague, your mother, your father,... is not always easy? Especially after a burnout you have the feeling that they do not understand you? It is namely so that everyone has different experiences to use as a reference, depending on what they have experienced in life. This article tries to give you insight in why communication is not always easy and what you can do about it.
Burnout and communication: what are referential experiences?
People form own opinions, values, and norms through different sources. Examples are the way they grew up, personality, experience. It is therefore not possible that two people have developed the same referential experiences. everyone looks at situations from their own view, using own referential experiences. It can therefore be so that your vision does not always match the vision of your partner, your family, your colleagues,... This can be frustrating, because that which you try to explain is something which the other person does not understand at all. For example, it can be so that you, after a burnout, look completely different at a situation than your partner, family, colleagues,... do. But how do you clarify for them that some things are no longer possible for you?
Burnout and communication: how do I make it easier?
What you can try to do is to distance yourself from your own reference frame, and to try to see things from the viewpoint which your partner, family, or colleagues have. With this we do not mean that you are not right or that you should give up your ideas, but if you understand the other person better, chances are that the communication will go more smoothly. You can try to, by asking questions, learn more about the vision or the approach which the other person has. In a next conversation you can then, for example, try to explain your ideas at the hand of his or her approach. For example, someone who is very analytical, will not always understand why things do not go right or are difficult in an emotional way. For this person, you could try to explain burnout from a more scientific point of view, for example.
15 Minutes 4 Me: can it help in such situations?
15 Minutes 4 Me is an online self-help program which is specialized in the treatment of burnout depression, and stress. After a burnout it is useful to deal with stress factors, such as poor communication. Thanks to daily videos and questions, 15 Minutes 4 Me helps you to gain new insights which can improve the communication and other stress factors.
Do I have a burnout?
To test to what extent a burnout is present in you, or possibly is developing, you can take our free online burnout test. This test will show you your scores as soon as you have answered all the questions!
